25% of Thurston County has been fully vaccinated. Here’s how to find a dose this week
About 36% of Thurston County residents have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and about 25% are now fully vaccinated.
Thurston County Public Health and Social Services director Schelli Slaughter revealed the percentages during a Board of County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning.
All county residents 16 or older became eligible for the vaccine last week, but limited doses means many may have to wait into the summer to be fully vaccinated.
Looking at the next several days, many more residents will have the chance to be vaccinated at multiple mass vaccination events. Links to sign-up for these events can be found at the state’s PrepMod website.
The Washington state Health Care Authority hosted a mass vaccination event at their Olympia headquarters on Tuesday, according to PrepMod, with over 300 appointments still open before noon.
Lacey Family Medicine on College Street also will offer hundreds of doses over the next several days, per PrepMod. Appointments for events at this location are available on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Additionally, thousands of doses are available at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds in Centralia over several days, according to PrepMod. In addition to a Tuesday event, more events at the location are planned for Thursday, Sunday and next Tuesday.
Thurston County PHSS also plans to host another mass vaccination event at South Puget Sound Community College on Saturday, Slaughter said. More details on this event should be posted on the Thurston County PHSS coronavirus website or social media in the coming days.
Additionally, the county is planning to host several targeted clinics. This effort includes mobile clinics in partnership with Centro Integral Educativo Latino de Olympia (CIELO). These mobile clinics will start around May 8 and target Spanish-speaking people, Slaughter said.
There also will be a drive-through clinic at New Life Baptist Church in Lacey on May 1, Slaughter said. More information on the mobile clinics and the May 1 drive-through event will be provided closer to those dates, she added.
Slaughter said vaccine providers across the county received about 9,580 vaccine doses from the state last week. This number does not include doses allocated directly to pharmacies through the federal government. A similar amount is expected this week, she added.
Additional vaccine appointments can be found through the state’s Vaccine Locator website, including at local pharmacies.
People with difficulties scheduling appointments online can call the Department of Health vaccine hotline at 888-856-5816 or the Thurston County public health line at 360-867-2610.
Volunteers needed
With more mass vaccination events planned in the days and weeks ahead, United Way of Thurston County will need more volunteers to staff those events.
Executive director Chris Wells said United Way of Thurston County has several hundred volunteer slots open for PHSS mass vaccination events planned between April 23 and 26 at South Puget Sound Community College and the Thurston County Fairgrounds.
Wells said there have been a lot of dedicated volunteers at previous events, but the need has only increased as eligibility has expanded.
“We really need to get the new volunteers engaged and trained, because we know that we’re going to have more clinics when we have more supply,” Wells said.
Wells said the PHSS mass vaccination events have been made possible by the combined effort of county staff and volunteers.
“We knew from the beginning that this was going to be a marathon, not a sprint,” Wells said. “So we kind of want to get the community thinking along the same lines. Prepare to volunteer for these upcoming clinics if you’re available and if you’ve got the capacity to make the commitment to volunteer for multiple clinics over the coming months.”
Volunteers should be at least 18 years old and able to stand on their feet for several hours during an entire shift, Wells said.
People interested in volunteering at PHSS vaccine events can sign up through the United Way of Thurston County website. Anyone with questions or concerns about volunteering can call 360-943-2773.
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
